Photo (cc) by Atos.
About three months ago I wrote an analysis for WGBH News on why Hillary Clinton almost certainly wouldn’t be indicted for using a private email server. Today the email story came to its predictable conclusion, with FBI Director James Comey issuing a devastatingly harsh report but recommending no criminal charges.
So we move on. We can only hope that the deeply wounded candidate is able to defeat the racist demagogue who tweets out anti-Semitic memes produced by white supremacists and then tries to blame the media for it.
Clinton has suffered an enormous amount of damage over this story—deservedly so. But it doesn’t strike me that things got any worse for her this morning.
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aronsbarron
The FBI director’s language about sloppiness and what she should have known will endure throughout the campaign.
Rick Camillo
“Our investigation looked at whether there is evidence classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on that personal system, in violation of a federal statute making it a felony to mishandle classified information either intentionally or in a grossly negligent way, or a second statute making it a misdemeanor to knowingly remove classified information from appropriate systems or storage facilities.”
He then went on to explain that Mrs.Clinton improperly stored and transmitted classified information both intentionally and negligently.
The system is rigged. And party loyalists will pretend to hold their nose and vote for this bald face liar.
Politicians know that when it comes right down to it the majority of voters in their party put party ahead of integrity.
Donna Halper
Isn’t Mr. Comey a Republican? I’m not being sarcastic; I’m just wondering if his “harsh critique” of Clinton was a way to cover himself with the right wing (and throw Mr. Trump a bone he can use in political ads), while still being fair to the facts and bringing no charges in a case that “no reasonable prosecutor” would consider criminal.
Dan Kennedy
Indeed, Comey is a Republican who has previously donated to Romney and McCain. But of course Trump has already smeared his integrity. Not to mention Rich.
dnamkrane
Comey made me feel like we weren’t turning into a Banana Republic when he testified before Congress re: his disgust over the Bush White House’s attempted arm-twisting of AG Ashcroft in his hospital bed. Yep, he’s a Republican, but he also understands the rule of law and I trust his judgment.
The other comments echoing Trump’s lament about a “rigged system” are making me chuckle. Funnily enough, I wouldn’t expect to see the FBI Director excoriate the candidate his boss had nominated for 15 minutes in such a system.
Rick Camillo
Mrs. Clinton is very lucky a jury is not going to be the ones who decide her fate.
It doesn’t matter if the FBI Director is a Republican appointee or Democrat appointee he is operating within a rigged system and he followed the rules of that rigged system.
Anyone who is for open and honest government knows she circumvented the system put in place so her e-mail could not be read by the unwashed masses.
Dan Kennedy
“Anyone who is for open and honest government knows she circumvented the system put in place so her e-mail could not be read by the unwashed masses.” Yes, that’s what Comey said. He also said it’s not a crime.
Rick Camillo
The crime was not in trying to keep her personal email private (which anyone can understand) It was that she used her private email server to conduct ALL of her e-mail interactions.
“To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.”
That isn’t saying it’s not a crime that is saying we are going to give her a pass on this.
What is going to happen if Mrs.Clinton is elected and someone in her administration decides to follow her example and set up a private e-mail server to conduct all of their personal and governmental business?
Dan Kennedy
In fact, Comey is saying it’s misconduct that might have resulted in sanctions if she were still employed by the government, but that it’s not a crime.
Mike Rice
The fix is in. All Hail the Queen!
Steve Stein
Nothing is over! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
If Hillary is elected President, and the Republicans keep the House, I expect Clinton to be impeached in the first month of her presidency over this.
Mike Benedict
For 8 years I have thought Obama, the lone grownup left in Washington, had made the right call in not going after Bush administration officials for all kinds of wrongdoing, under the reasoning that the petty “investigations” had to stop. Now I’m not so sure. Given how the Republicans have so badly behaved when given the opportunity for a clean slate, it’s time to indict Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al for war crimes, Cheney for attempted murder, McConnell and Ryan for tax evasion, Trump for tax evasion, fraud, etc. And so on…at this point, why not?
Karin PIsiewski
It really is amazing how the media follow the right wing down one rabbit hole after another ginning up controversies against the Clintons. Do any of them ever stop and think about what is actually going on and their continuing contribution to allowing the Republican Party to abdicate their responsibility to govern? Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald did a great summary of what a scandal this wasn’t.
Karin Pisiewski
Rick Camillo
“In fact, Comey is saying it’s misconduct that might have resulted in sanctions if she were still employed by the government, but that it’s not a crime.”
She is running for President which requires top secret clearance and if she still worked for the government her security clearance would be revoked and she would be fired.
It’s all good, she’s sorry.